Plastic molding, such as injection molding or extrusion molding, is commonly used to manufacture plastic materials in large quantities. Large machines are utilized to take raw plastic material, heat the material and mold it into various shapes and forms. Upon formation, the plastic materials are then dropped from the machine into a chute and further sorted.
In some instances, remnant materials remaining attached to the intended plastics or further sorting by machine or by hand is required to provide a clean and neat product to prepare the plastic products for use. It is advantageous to provide for a chute to catch the materials as they fall from the molds, and sort them into one or a plurality of boxes.
This is typically accomplished by using a metal, plastic, or fabric chute that is somehow attached to the molding machine, placed near or under the machine, or otherwise hung from or supported by the machine. Unfortunately, there are few convenient options for chutes and no single product yet is sufficient for use in the majority of applications.
Indeed, with the variety of parts, shapes, and sizes that can be manufactured, most molding machines do not come with an installed chute, or manufacturers remove the chutes, because they clog, become soiled, become worm, or cause a nuisance in the manufacturing process. What typically occurs, then, is that chutes are jerry rigged to the machine, and supported by other boxes, chained to the machine, taped, or otherwise precariously attached to or supported under the drop zone on the molding machine.
There is a need in manufacturing to create a simple, inexpensive, replaceable chute that can be easily manufactured from known components and provides for steady and consistent performance for use in plastic molding.